Nelson Mandela’s great-grandson offers keynote address at Onyx Initiative gala

The Onyx Initiative held its third annual Celebration Gala at Toronto’s Ritz-Carlton on Feb. 21. The sold-out event was established to highlight the talent and achievements of the participants in the non-profit’s Onyx Scholars Program, which comprises more than 1,700 Black post-secondary students and recent graduates from across the country, 100 of whom were in attendance. In one of the evening’s highlights, Nigela Purboo, Onyx’s co-founder and executive director, mentioned that it was the 30th anniversary of Black History Month being celebrated in Canada. There was also a keynote address from Siyabulela Mandela, great-grandson of Nelson Mandela, and a performance by singers Wade O. Brown and Ayla Pearl.